For many years, toy pistols have been developed for firing different types of projectiles and in more recent years, such toy guns have been developed to fire relatively harmless ping pong balls, and the present invention pertains to a toy pistol of that type. Many types of guns for firing different types of projectiles have been developed heretofore in which the plunger or ram for firing the projectile is retracted manually and certain guns also have been developed as toys in which, by operation of a trigger, the ram is retracted, a projectile falls into position to be engaged by the ram, and continued retracting movement of the ram automatically compresses a spring for the ram and, near the end of the rearward movement of the trigger, a sear is released from the ram to fire the projectile from the barrel. Typical examples of this type are illustrated in the following prior U.S. Pat. Nos.:
No. 71,162--Hall--Nov. 19, 1867 PA1 No. 473,808--Arno--Apr. 26, 1892 PA1 No. 1,240,987--Lefever--Sept. 25, 1917 PA1 No. 1,183,133--Sperry PA1 No. 1,206,865--Lefever--Dec. 5, 1916 PA1 No. 2,053,152--Kiesel--Sept. 1, 1936
In the foregoing patents, when the retracting means for the plunger is moved rearwardly, the rearward end thereof is cammed downwardly to release the sear on the retracting member and permits a compressed spring to drive the plunger forwardly. In the patents to Hall and Arno, it appears that the trigger must be manually moved forward to restore it to initial position, but in Lefever, there is a spring to accomplish this.
Prior art is also present in the form of the following patents which include means to retain a positioned ball or projectile in the barrel from falling out of the same until fired. Typical examples of U.S. Pat. Nos. of this type are:
A still further prior patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,737,942, to Horowitz et al, dated Mar. 13, 1956, shows a spring-return means for the trigger, whereby the toy gun is automatic and a sear on the trigger automatically releases the plunger near the end of the retraction of the trigger.
At present, it is very popular to manufacture toy guns, especially toy pistols from plastic material and in order to adapt certain basic principles of operation to guns molded from plastic materials, the present invention has been devised and incident to perfecting the same, certain novel features have been included therein which are not disclosed in the prior art, details of which are described hereinafter and illustrated in the drawings of the application.